Things only became worse for Hermione after that. Pansy Parkinson decided it'd be great fun to trip and lock her dear little friend in the broom closet where Filch found her tangled up in the greasy mops nobody used for years. She discovered that he only opened the closet because he'd been tipped off by Peeves that some kid stashed his weekly supply of cauldron cakes there. That evening, Draco insisted that she must have the best truffle pudding, then forced a spoonful- along with a squeamish, grey, depressed looking glumbumble down her throat. When she went to the library to study, she also stumbled upon the fact that glumbumbles produced a treacle that causes the consumer to feel a bit depressed afterwards. It was late into the night by then, and she wearily (and glumly) glanced up at the huge mantlepiece clock sitting just above the commonplace fireplace. Her eyes silently drooped and abandoned the usual workload Hermione always had in store for them. She began to stare at the fireplace to try and stay awake, her perfect posture beginning to give in to lack of sleep from the past few days. The soot collected began to grow lighter in color all of a sudden for some reason, and opaque, flesh colored shapes began to form and hover above the soot. Hermione shook herself awake and focused intently on the continuously sharpening image; the shape started to look amazingly like a person!

With each progressing minute, she was sure it was a face. As the face grew clearer and facial features defined themselves, Hermione was also sure that she'd seen that person before. Dark, shadowing eyebrows framed a pair of matching cold eyes. In the middle of the face stood a long, bony nose. Every feature was part of a head with a sharp jaw and cheekbones with skin tightly stretched across, all topped with a mass of dark brown, matted hair. The head seemed as if its owner was wearing a sort of collar or jacket, mud caking the snowy white fur trim of it. Hermione gasped into the ill lit room hours after midnight. It was Alexei Ivanov! Hermione met him in their fourth year when the Triwizard Tournament took place at Hogwarts. She went out with Viktor Krum and was introduced to Alexei by Viktor. The two looked somewhat alike with their dark eyes and hair and pale complexion. At the Yule Ball, she and Alexei talked for a bit while Viktor went to get some refreshments and Alexei's date took a few minutes to visit the loo. Alexei, it turned out, was orphaned at 8 when he came to Durmstrang and had lived there since then. Before both his parents died, he'd lived in Britain and still maintained the British accent, but came to Durmstrang since his grandfather lived up north. But now, the face in the fireplace began to move his lips as his voice increased in volume. "Hermione... they've taken Viktor, taken him..."

Immediately, Hermione sat up, alert and anxiously asked Alexei, "What are you talking about? I... I saw Viktor not even more than two weeks ago, he was perfectly okay."

Alexei quickly responded with a shake of his shaggy head. "Hermione, did he seem a bit paranoid, maybe? A little jumpy at every squeak of a door, every flick of a wand?"

She thought for a moment. Viktor changed slightly, but she had come to believe from his excuses that he was emotionally scarred by some of the bizarre events during the Triwizard Tournament. If it was that, then she understood completely. But now, she wasn't so sure. He acted every time as if he was expecting some kind of stranger to just.. appear. He had stayed over at the Granger's house for a week, and every time Hermione's mother called them to dinner or her father walk into the house after walking the dogs, Viktor instantly whitened and restored color once he was sure he was safe. What could possibly have happened to him, she wondered. Alexei gave an exhausted, restless sigh. "Look, there was a break-in at Durmstrang not more than a few hours ago. Whoever the intruder was, they came into Viktor's dormitory. I suppose they didn't know exactly where he was and prowled around looking for him. The guy poisoned most of the boys in the dorm that the intruder discovered wasn't Viktor, but took him once he was found."

Hermione felt the color from her face leave and chills tickled her spine. Alexei continued. "They didn't just stop at the poisoning and kidnapping though. Now Igor Karkaroff, the headmaster, is near dead. Somebody tried to kill him, but slashed through his arm and part of his chest. It doesn't sound all that bad, but the cut is deep. The professors here have come to the conclusion that the intruder that tried to kill Karkaroff must be a muggle. A regular wizard would just use the Avada Kedavra curse, wouldn't he? It just doesn't make any sense, Hermione..."

The sky outside slowly churned pink and orange, indicating the first signs of dawn. Heavy footsteps descended in a dragging, sleepy manner as someone came downstairs from the dormitory. Hurrying to finish the meeting, Hermione whispered to Alexei, "Tell me more. Tomorrow, same time."

Alexei nodded quickly as his image vanished. Ron stood in the doorway next to the stairwell. "Hermione, who was that?"